Some Thoughts on Voting

Many of you have the option to vote before November 4. If you’ve made a decision on who to vote for, I urge you to exercise that option. Here’s why.

This is one of, if not the, most vital elections in our lifetimes. Why risk not voting because you were ill that day or had a family emergency?

If you work during the week, then maybe you could take a half day off and make sure you take care of business. I’ve heard stories of employers offering bonuses or overtime to workers on Election Day to keep their workers from voting. Don’t let that be you. If you’ve already voted, then you don’t have to debate whether to take the money or vote. You can have both the money and vote.

If you work over a weekend and have weekdays as your weekend, then you have even more reason to vote early.

If you’re going to discover there’s some sort of irregularity between your voter registration record and the identification you use at the polls, wouldn’t you rather find that out with time to resolve it before the election is over? Finding you have a problem on election day and you have to be at work in two hours is not a good position to be in. Example, you may have registered using a middle initial in your name, but your driver’s license may lack that middle initial.

Yes, you may get a provisional ballot, but those ballots do not have a good history of being counted. According to Greg Palast in Armed Madhouse, 676,676 provisional ballots were rejected in the 2004 election. Everyone worries about the “black boxes” of the voting machines being manipulated, according to Palast. What they should be worried about is suppression of the vote and subjective non-counting of ballots. For example, in New Mexico in 2004, “the uncounted votes were 5 times the Bush alleged victory margin of 5,998.”

If your registration is disputed, Palast advises you to do is resist being given a provisional ballot and instead to “demand adjudication from the poll judges on the spot, demand a call to the supervisor of elections, or return with acceptable ID.”

Regarding voting procedures, Palast makes a very compelling point. If you go in a convenience store and buy a Slurpee, you get a receipt. That receipt lets you know you actually bought and paid for a Slurpee and not something else along with it. The same is true with any other type of retail business transaction you make. Why is it then when you vote you don’t get a receipt for your ballot? Why don’t you get something telling you the vote you cast was the vote the machine recorded along with a procedure to correct your vote if the ballot receipt is wrong? Why don’t you get a ballot receipt with an official seal as a back up to the paper ballot you should be able to deposit for recount purposes if necessary? Answer: because we don’t think of those things and we don’t demand them.

Palast has some other tips for voters. Here’s one of them. Don’t vote by mail. In 2004, based on flimsy technical excuses, 750,000 mailed in absentee ballots were not counted.

I strongly recommend Palast’s book. Just be sure you take your blood pressure medicine before you start reading.

At the taping of Real Spit Wednesday night I was told flyers are being distributed in some neighborhoods saying if you have an outstanding parking ticket or are delinquent in your taxes and a couple of other minor legal difficulties and you show up to vote, you will be arrested. Guess which neighborhoods. The allegations on those flyers is a lie. Those things will not happen. Go vote.

No matter whether you vote early or on Election Day, please vote. Urge your friends, relatives and neighbors to do the same. Take someone to the polls if they need a ride.

If you don’t vote, then shut your mouth until the next election. If you’re not going to exercise your right to vote, then as far as I’m concerned, you lose your right to bitch.

Interview with Dan Hill of Sensory Logic

Hopefully I am going to be able to arrange an interview with Dan Hill, the President of Sensory Logic and publish it here on my Blog shortly. Dan’s book, Emotionomics, uses his years of research to reveal the role emotions play in our decision making, even our voting decisions.

I also got input from Jack Topel so content rich it has me salivating to post it when I get back from a meeting.

I will also be making at 12 Noon Presentation at the W. Dale Clark Branch of the Omaha Public Library on Wednesday, Oct 15 this coming week. Hope to see you there if you’re in the Omaha area.

Watch for our new Real Spit episodes on Wednesdays at 9 on Channel 109 in Omaha.

If you could help me out by letting people know about my White Paper, Top Ten Tips for Independent Nonpartisan Voters, I would appreciate it. They can read an excerpt on the Blog at Weekly Ezine Number 29.

Have a great week. Keep the mute button handy for the commercials. 